Thursday, May 19, 2016

And we're back, bringing you even more sounds straight from the Masai Mara!

First off, some guinea fowl vocalizations, one of the more ridiculous birdcalls we hear. These particular guinea fowl decided to hang out at our hyenas' den in Happy Zebra territory while the cubs hid away underground.

Just this morning, eight lions walked right past our car as we were on obs, and we managed to record the sound of a rumbling growl from one of the subadult males and the subsequent sound of lions moving quickly through tall grass.

Now on to some hyena sounds! This first vocalization is Wasabi, a recently-graduated subadult male, whooping as he joins some older males in bristle-tail loping, sniffing, and pasting, often collectively referred to as "patrol" behavior.

The following track is a whoop that I thought sounded particularly odd. This hyena is one I hadn't seen before, a potential immigrant male to South territory, and he began whooping spontaneously about 100m away from the car. I only caught the last few whoops on the recording equipment, but it was so unique I thought I would share it!

Another unique vocalization - lowing! I had never heard this sound before collecting this recording a few weeks ago. This is Venice, an adult male in South territory. He lowed and then proceeded to go on patrol with one of his buddies, Santa Cruz, who loped up as he was lowing.

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